A Cherry Cherry Christmas - Neil...

Nov 13, 2009 03:11 pm

The listener's reaction to the concept of Neil Diamond covering Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song" is a pretty good predictor of how he or she will respond to the third holiday compilation of Diamond's career.

Neil Diamond's first two holiday albums were plainly titled The Christmas Album and The Christmas Album, Vol. 2, which gave a pretty good indication of the by-the-book music they contained, just like how the very name of 2009's A Cherry Cherry Christmas is a tip-off that this collection is a decidedly less serious affair, even if it recycles a good chunk of the same recordings that comprised those earlier albums. A Cherry Cherry Christmas keeps a barbershop quartet arrangement of "Deck the Halls," a doo wop "White Christmas," and a swinging "Jingle Bell Rock," but what's notable are the additions: a version of "Cherry Cherry Christmas" that's trumped only by a goofy cover of Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide